In 2015 Andy Murray’s Great Britain team re-wrote the tennis history books when they went all the way and won the Davis Cup for the first time in 74 years.
Glasgow’s Emirates Arena has a huge stake in that history after two of Britain’s three knockout stage matches were played there, including their stunning semi-final victory over Australia.
Now the venue and the entire city of Glasgow is preparing to welcome some of the world’s best track and field athletes ahead of the European Athletics Indoor Championships, to be held at the Emirates Arena from March 1-3.
Our new ongoing series Clydeside Classics combines to insist that when Glasgow hosts a party – everyone’s invited.
With that in mind let’s take a look back at that memorable win over the Aussies back in September 2015 and how Glasgow’s very own hero Andy Murray lit up the city.
A Murray masterclass
Having already knocked the United States out of the competition at the Emirates Arena, Great Britain overcame France in the quarter-finals to set up a semi-final tie with Australia.
The venue capacity was expanded to accommodate 8,200 avid spectators and a hardcourt was laid down as the battle ground for the old sporting rivals.
Preparations complete, the arena, which was constructed to host badminton events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, became a cauldron of noise for the tennis players about to make history.
The talismanic Andy Murray opened the event in front of a rapturous home crowd and crushed Thanasi Kokkinakis in three sets before Australia pulled one back via Bernard Tomic after he saw off Dan Evans – not before the pair treated fans to a thriller though.
The atmosphere is amazing! Score so far GB lead 5 games to 2 @DavisCup @EmiratesArena pic.twitter.com/tJeHWoA5N7
— Emirates Arena (@EmiratesArena) 18 September 2015
The best-of-five tie was finely poised at 1-1 and much to the delight of the packed-out Glaswegian crowd, the weekend brought with it some more Murray magic as brother Jamie joined Andy on court to take on Sam Groth and Lleyton Hewitt in the doubles.
The tie produced another stunning display and after losing the first set, the brothers roared back to take the game to five sets and clinch it in the most dramatic of styles to put Great Britain in the driving seat going into the final day.
Yet again Murray pulled on the GB kit as if it were a superhero’s cape and beat off the challenge of Tomic to give his team an unassailable lead and a spot in the final against Belgium, their first since 1978
Murray later revealed that despite his unfaltering performances he had actually been suffering from injury for the match and that it was the crowd’s support that helped get him over the line.
“Winning for your country and your team-mates means such a lot. The crowd were unbelievable from the first ball to the last”, said Murray
He’s done it! @andy_murray beats Bernard Tomic in straight sets to put GB into the @DavisCup final! #BackTheBrits pic.twitter.com/hPefA0xCFr
— Team GB (@TeamGB) 20 September 2015
“I didn’t feel great the whole weekend to be honest. I’ve been struggling with my back, but I just tried to disguise it.
“We’ve had everyone here, mother, father, wife, grandmother, mother-in-law, aunties and uncles.”
Another integral member of the Great Britain team to acknowledge the huge part the crowd had to play was team captain Leon Smith.
“So many people have played their part, and the crowd were absolutely brilliant”, said Smith.
“Everyone’s played a huge part, even the people who don’t get a huge amount of mentions.
“It would be nice to be at home for the final and we’ll fight like hell when it comes.”
And fight like hell they did. Despite the final being held in Belgium’s own backyard, Andy Murray produced another sublime performance to guide the Great Britain team to victory and a special place in tennis history.